Thanks for providing the detailed plot summary for "House of Cotton" by Monica Brashears. Based on that intriguing premise, here is a potential short review:
Monica Brashears announces herself as a bold new voice in Southern gothic fiction with her delightfully twisted debut novel "House of Cotton." From its arresting opening pages, she pulls readers into the bizarre world of Magnolia Brown, a young woman trapped in a dead-end job until an enigmatic stranger named Cotton lures her into his family's macabre funeral home business.
What ensues is a darkly comical, turbo-charged ride through the rural South as Magnolia finds herself posing as corpses for grieving families in exchange for cash. Brashears perfectly captures her protagonist's blunt, sardonic voice as Magnolia gets in way over her head with the increasingly strange Cotton clan.
While reveling in its lurid, neo-noir thrills, "House of Cotton" also serves as an incisive commentary on the desperation of poverty, moral compromise, and the legacies of Southern mores. Brashears' rich sense of place and her flawed, unforgettable characters make this one of the most exciting and original debuts in recent years.
Part Southern gothic, part pulpy crime novel, "House of Cotton" establishes Brashears as a provocative new storyteller steeped in tradition butWithÅ wholly fresh perspective. Darkly comic but packing an emotional punch, this debut heralds an author to watch closely. Co

I’m not sure how I feel about this one still. I liked it while I was reading it but I found it very forgettable. I did really like the characters and the story line.

I requested this for consideration for Book Riot's All the Books podcast for its release date. After sampling several books out this week, I decided to go with a different book for my review.

This was a gothic novel that was extremely unsettling. You can slowly see all the pieces coming together but you can't look away.

I don't know if I can say I liked the book. I will definitely always be thinking of this book. The characters were interesting and they kept me reading. Then it got very weird, and I had to keep reading. It's going to be a book I tell everyone to read so I can just talk about it because at the moment I am speechless.

As soon as I read the premise of this one on NetGalley, I knew I needed to read it. This book and it’s author had a lot to say, and I was fully along for the entire ride. It’s a coming of age tale in the biggest of senses, and because of Brashears’ writing style, I could feel MC Magnolia’s sheer desperation - I could feel her needs, her wants, her rage, her desire and her tenacity. The creepiness of Cotton and Eden, and their side hustle, add to the effects of the book, and it all sucked me in completely. It truly is mesmerizing - I read it in two days!! I savored the Southern Gothic vibes, the heat of the city, the echoes of ghosts, Magnolia’s thirst to be known but to never be known….this one will be fun to handsell to customers. It’s a weird book that won’t appeal to the masses, but to those who are looking for what this book is offering - you’ll be blown away.

This was a strange one! It felt like a hot summer, that meandering, heavy weight within your brain that keeps things from fully making sense. At times I wanted more. Clarity, drive, something, but I think that likely was part of the point. There was a relentlessness and cruelty here that never felt less than earned and never dipped (I felt) into manipulation or shock value. I can't say (beyond some stunning sentences) that I enjoyed this, but I am very glad I read it. Monica Brashears is definitely an author I want to look out for going forward.

Atmospheric and unsettling. I'm still trying to process my thoughts fully on this novel, but I'm left with a shallow feeling almost wanting more. Certain aspects were so detailed, but I'm left feeling like I missed something.

I was excited to read something gothic and gritty with a powerful message. I'm not one to shy away from reading books with difficult topics and emotional stories. But this story was completely lost on me because I couldn't break through the writing style. The voice is not an easy read and it kept me from truly getting into it. Call me dumb if you want to, but I think many other readers will find it a barrier to entry as well. It's very difficult to read and follow along with - the prose, the clunky staccato writing, the random metaphors, the strange inner monologues, the meandering trains of thought. It was just a struggle to focus and connect with. I was confused for the majority of the time, like what time period does it takes place in? While I have an appreciation for unique voices, I think it is important to also be sure that it doesn't become so unclear and cluttered with jargon that readers struggle to comprehend the story and its message. I think this is one that people will either love it or hate it, perhaps for a niche audience it will have a profound impact. But I can't say that I personally enjoyed it nor can I honestly recommend it. Since I DNFed, I'm leaving my review without a rating because I personally don't feel like giving a low star rating would be fair since I can't accurately make an assessment of my experience on the whole story. There are too many books out there calling my name and given to me to read and review, I promised myself this year I would be ok with DNFing books if I made it through the first act and still wasn't into it. Not every book is for every reader. And this one wasn't for me.

We were pleased to share this title at our live Spring Book Preview event for the Modern Mrs Darcy and What Should I Read Next communities on January 10, 2023, when 1200 readers attended live and twice that many watched the replay in the following week. The PDF from that event is attached. Long story short: a riveting Southern Gothic work about grief and love and family.

LISTEN YALL!

I almost spit out my coffee when I saw this approval email come in via NetGalley. This was the best news I got this week. I am so very, very thankful to Flatiron Books and Monica Brashears for granting me early access to this gorgeously heartbreaking southern gothic tale before it's set to publish on April 4, 2023.

Hidden in the valleys of Knoxville, Tennessee, is a little town made up of guilt, church on Sundays, and hard times. Hard times get dealt directly to Magnolia after her grandmother's sudden death. Mama Browne raised Magnolia because her blood mother's addictions and misgivings deemed her an unfit mother. Now stuck with 19 dollars in her bank account and nowhere to go, she trusts the guidance of a friendly stranger who refers her to his business as a presumed model scout.

Upon nibbling at the bait, Magnolia learns that this man, Cotton, and his Aunt, Eden, are in the business of death and have used their extra resources to recreate interactions with the dead to give grieving families one last chance at goodbye. According to the business offering, families who have lost a loved one reach out to Cotton with money enclosed, asking for one final goodbye, and that's where Magnolia comes into the equation. Aunt Eden paints her as the spitting image of these lost souls, and they set up an interaction via Skype or Zoom to deliver on that family's transaction.

The orders keep coming in, and as skeevy and grimy as this purchase sounds, this offering is settling a battle for some families, and in Cotton and Eden's eyes, that's enough.

As Magnolia undergoes each transformation, she begins to see the ghost of Mama Brown, who then guides her through the topsy-turvy unknowns of her life, helping her see the clearer picture and escape the demons from her past with each coming day.

Suspenseful and full of commentary and strong themes. Definitely one that will speak to people, but I can also see it being difficult for those not ready to engage with its heavier topics.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced digital copy.

This is quite a striking, at-times quite disturbing novel, with great prose and a very well-developed main character. I will say there are content warnings for sexual assault (and, briefly, in flashback, of a child) and unwanted pregnancy/abortion, and overall there are a lot of tough, traumatic subjects covered here. But it's also a WEIRD Southern gothic take on modernity and racism. It's a lot, but it's worth the ride.